Robots - Their World, My World, Our World

Everyone is talking about, and to, Robots

Robotics, a buzzword that is
heard almost anywhere and everywhere now. A concept, that was once upon a time
limited to hi-tech manufacturing industries, has now spread leaps and bounds to
almost every place or application one can imagine. These days, you don't have
to scout through pages of a technology journal or thought paper to learn about innovation
in the field of robotics. The subject has become so popular (and rightfully so)
that it has found a place even in everyday articles, newspapers, television
shows and so on. As per a recent survey, Robotics is one of thetop 5 trending
technologies sharing this prime space with Artificial Intelligence,
Internet of Things, Big Data and the most recent entrant - Blockchain. I personally
think that the primary reason for this stardom,
of course apart from all the 'cool'
things robots can do, is how close they have got in our regular routine. In
today's modern world, we are always interacting with robots, sometimes
knowingly and at other occasions, obliviously. What's more interesting is the
fact that this interaction is not just limited to the period when we are awake
and active. Even if we are sleeping, some of the robots, that are part of our
day-to-day technology savvy life, aren't. For example, smartphones,
smartwatches and those little bracelets called fitbits keep working while we are in deep slumber keeping a track
of sleep patterns, REMs, heart rate, pulse and much more. But isn't this what
they are supposed to do?! For some people (a.k.a
humans), the bigger question could be "why", for others it might be "why not".
And then there is also another faction who would ask "how?". This article is intended
for all of the above.

Evolution

Back in the day, the
purpose of a robot was to obey commands and do the job assigned. It was a
one-way communication and the response (implied, not explicit) from a robot invariably
had to be, as they say in military language, "Wilco" (Will comply, with the orders). Over the years, even though
the primary purpose has remained the same, robots are doing much more than just
performing a set of mundane tasks. In fact, even our expectations from them have
grown exponentially and the robots, fueled with new technology, are coming
through with flying colors.

Robots have evolved
from something having a form, fit and
function to something that can work equally well, or maybe even better,
with just a fit and function but no form.
In simple terms, not all robots can be "seen". We refer to this category in our
IT world with a term or jargon - Soft Robotor just "bot". Here are some of the key
differences between that and a typical industrial robot. By no means one can be
deemed superior than the other. It's the requirement and application which makes
either one just more relevant or practical to use.

Characteristic

Physical
Industrial Robot

Soft
Robot

Place of installation

Fixed

Flexible

Dimensions

Wide
range, depending on the actual equipment

Dimensionless
(virtual)

Type of job performed

Generally same but also set of relatively
similar tasks at times

Any - even if one task is strikingly
different than the other

Availability

Mostly
round the clock

Mostly
round the clock

Need for maintenance

Periodic per robot

Periodic for a platform that hosts a number
of robots

Programming

Manufacturer
specific

System
/ application specific

Response time

Depends on motor speed

Depends on server speed

Operating cost factors

Equipment
cost, installation cost, maintenance charges (parts+labor)

Development
cost, licensing cost, support fees (sometimes inclusive)

Integrate/communicate with other systems

Through hardware, adapters or interfaces

Through user interface

Lifecycle

Replaced
with newer versions at end of life

Upgraded
with newer versions at end of life

Ability to scan or read information

Through integrated equipment (e.g., NFC device
/ barcode reader)

Through connected external equipment (e.g.,
scanner)

IoT readiness

Partial
(only newer equipment)

Full
(all versions)

Example

Fanuc Palletizer

Infosys EdgeVerve AssistEdge

But these are not
just the only two groups in which robots can be clubbed into. A third type has
recently rolled out of the robot factory,
well figuratively. I like to call it the hybrid
variant - take a physical robot, load it up with some soft robot programming
and add top if off with artificial intelligence. Although I tried to explain
the concept like a simple drink recipe, am sure building an actual hybrid robot
takes much more, rather substantially more, than this. Examples of these
variants include, but not limited to:

Hanson Robotics' Sophia - the humanoid that was recently doing the rounds on internet. Interestingly, Sophia was also offered a citizenship by Saudi Arabia

IBM's Pepper - powered by their flagship AI platform, Watson. Over the past few months, Pepper is finding a place on the center stage at quite a few major symposiums, the most recent one being Oracle Modern Supply Chain Experience '18, where I was able to see it in action

Robotics has evolved in a big way since the
time of its inception. But this decade has particularly seen a boom and the
trend is expected to continue through the next few years. At the World Economic Forum in Davos,
Switzerland this year (2018), Jack Ma,
founder of Alibaba (China's largest
e-commerce company) predicted that robots, coupled with AI and machine learning,
are going to be able to handle an unbelievable number of tasks over the next decade
or so. This might not have sounded logical maybe 5 to 6 years ago, but seems totally
plausible now.

The Smart Ones

Even though robots
have been around for a while now, the ability to have an actual conversation
with these machines has taken a new
dimension these days. From an 'I speak,
the robot listens' model, this has transformed into 'I speak, the robot listens, the robot responds' and even further. You
can now have meaningful nested conversations with a robot, where it weaves a
series of questions and responses into a logical communication thread. Virtual
assistants such as Apple's Siri or Amazon's Alexa or Microsoft's Cortana, Interactive Voice Response (IVR) based customer
support agents, are some good examples. What's even more interesting is the
self-learning potential that these smart robots can showcase with just some
degree of artificial intelligence baked into them. I was amazed at how my Google
Home Mini could perfectly pronounce my name (which is of Indian origin)
with the correct accent from the moment it came
to life. I never taught this, so how did it know? Another trait that intrigues
me is when I ask for a song, it automatically plays it through my Spotify account on its built-in speaker.
But when a movie trailer is asked, it sends a signal to Chromecast and plays it from the YouTube
app on a connected TV! When in dilemma, its seeks clarification on my device preference,
switching to it in a jiffy. This might sound like not a big deal for humans, but
think from a little robot's perspective, which is just a tad larger in size
than an ice hockey puck! These are just a couple of instances in everyday life
which makes one wonder about the sheer intelligence of these machines.

Let's talk about chat bots, another form of smart soft robots. It is not uncommon that we
visit a website and a little "helper" pops up asking "May I help you?" Behind the scenes, this robot has a technology that
is able to assist us with basic queries without having to go through an actual
agent. For example, checking the status of an order or shipment, troubleshooting
tips for common issues with a device, providing contact information of the
correct department, etc. What it is doing is simulating a person reading or
hearing key words and searching a database for relevant answers. Of course,
when things start to get a little over basic and cannot be handled by the bot, it will promptly connect us to a
customer service representative. But at least this has eliminated the first
layer of inquiry, and the best part is, generally there is no wait time to talk to a bot and you are always number 1 in
sequence! With bots getting smarter, the line in sand, beyond which a bot has
to pass on the baton, is going farther and farther.

In fact, any platform having a front-end user
interface could be considered incomplete without an assistant bot. Maybe that
is why in its latest release, Microsoft introduced a new bot feature called "Who" in their Office 365 Teams application. By asking it simple questions, the bot
lets you search for anyone in your organization based on what they are working
on, who they work with and more. Through a quick instant message (IM) conversation, you can get information
about people in your organization such as:

- locate experts on a topic

- look up a person, their supervisor or their team
members

- find people you had a meeting with about a
particular topic, etc.

In essence, "Who" saves you the effort of going
through a number of repositories such as the corporate directory, mailbox, calendars, etc.
by doing that task on your behalf. What's more important is that it performs
this search in multiple data sources simultaneously and presents the results in
merely a second or two, quite faster than it would take us to look up the same
in a traditional manner.

Just like chat bots
are an usual thing on websites, another feature which is quite common is Completely Automated Public Turing Test,
more commonly known to us as CAPTCHA. Although this is also entirely
related to robots, the intent is exactly opposite of the robots we have
discussed so far. The primary purpose of this is to prevent automated scripts (bots,
smart but in a wrong way) from clogging the system by creating too many
transactions or even potentially hacking it. Here are the two types of CAPTCHA that are most common:

A check box that needs to be checked to confirm that the person accessing that site is not a robot, or in other words, is a human

A mix of garbled or hazy characters / numbers or an image showing the same which one must enter accurately (at times, even in the right case) in an empty box

Now as robots are getting smarter,
CAPTCHA needs to equally reciprocate. A noteworthy example of this is the
website of a leading financial corporation in India. In addition to having
users check a box or replicate a text, it presents them with mathematical or
logical questions. Examples:

What is the sum of: 10 + 4 + 2

Which set of alphabets is in center of: Ma Ni Sh

These questions are quite basic,
maybe comparable to elementary school syllabus, but the bottom line is only a
human can read, process and answer them. Bad
robots, stay out!

Automationwith Robots

Robots have
catapulted automation to levels that until now were seen only in sci-fi shows and movies. One of my
neighbors, who installs heating and air-conditioning equipment for industries
told me about his experience at a leading packaged drinking water manufacturing
company here in Southeast Wisconsin. It was in the middle of a regular workday
and he couldn't hear any human voices on the shop floor. Reason - The entire plant was being operated by
robots! They traversed on electro-magnetic guiderails avoiding any
collision and meticulously performed almost every task from bottling and
packing to picking and loading orders in trucks. In some cases, they acted as
per instructions relayed wirelessly by a few folks, while in some scenarios,
the robots themselves were the decision
makers. I was totally enthralled to hear this story and wanted to see
something like this in action. To my luck, a couple of days later, I came
across a video on LinkedIn showing how Alibaba's largest warehouse is fully operated
by just 70 robots! These compact Quicktron
robots not only lift and move pallets much larger than their size, but also
aptly move to rest areas at the right time (read: dock themselves at charging
points when running low on battery).

Couple of months ago,
Dubai airport in collaboration with Emirates airlines did a pilot of a
completely automated security screening
system which they like to call it "theAquarium". Passengers
have to pass through a tunnel with
augmented reality walls featuring bots in the shape of fish. While the passengers
look around to experience the life-like aquarium, high definition cameras
mounted on these fish bots take pictures (along with retina scans) and the
tunnel itself x-rays the person. Biometric and scan data is then processed in
real time to determine the outcome of this screening. The process is completed
in a matter of seconds and security cleared passengers are on their way to
board the flight while the flagged ones have to proceed to secondary checks.
The test was a huge success and the system is expected to be fully functional
soon. Another technological marvel made possible because of robotics and
automation!

Soft robots have
opened up newer avenues for automation. Robotic
Process Automation, also known as RPA,
is becoming increasingly popular with enterprises. A basic RPA framework
comprises of a group of soft robots that can perform repetitive, non-judgmental
tasks. Varying degrees of intelligence, analysis and decision-making abilities
can also be built-in. Further, the solution can be extended by integrating
peripheral components that can supply data from non-electronic sources. For
example, if a company needs to key in large volume of paper invoices on a
regular basis, then an OCR (optical
character recognition) software such as AnyDoc
can be bundled with a compatible document scanner. Subsequently, bots in a RPA solution (such as AssistEdge from Infosys EdgeVerve) would
consume (read) these scanned invoices and enter them into the system (say, Oracle ERP) making the process
completely automated, well almost. The only manual task would be someone having
to place the set of paper invoices on the scanner's feed tray and replenishing
it with a new batch once fully processed. Such RPA platforms can perform a
multitude of tasks and are compatible with several systems. Usage of bots can
be optimized by sharing them across business units, departments or job
functions. Moreover, a bot is available round the clock and can be programmed
to work on tasks of completely disparate nature by scheduling its runs. Multiple
bots can also be deployed to work in parallel or in tandem, to get the biggest
bang for your buck!

As capabilities of
robots scale new heights dovetailed with investments in developing increasingly
secure and smarter AI and machine learning platforms, our level of trust in
these machines continues to grow proportionately. Google's driverless car project 'Waymo' is a real life, and perhaps the biggest, symbol of this. If
you think about it, it is a robot in the shape of a car. Even though it looks
way different than conventional robots (the ones with arms and all), it has all
the functional characteristics of one. While the fully autonomous self-driving car
is still in pilot stages (with the first few vehicles to undergo field / road
tests in California in April 2018), several auto manufacturers are trying to
bring in at least some flavor of robotics in their cars. More than adding to
the enriched driving experience or comfort, the idea here is to make these cars
safer. Features such as dynamic radar
cruise control, lane departure correction, forward collision avoidance,
auto-parking assist, etc. are being made available in every day passenger
cars by Toyota, Nissan, Chevy and
others through their Advanced Technology
Package add-on. This is made possible by virtue of a powerful robotics
system with sensors, radars, cameras and a software with ultra-fast real-time
data processing capabilities integrated with the car's powertrain.

Let me explain with dynamic radar cruise control
as an example. While this feature is engaged, if the vehicle in front slows
down, radar sensors send a signal that physically depresses the brake pedal. This
reduces your car's speed to maintain a safe distance from the deaccelerating
vehicle in front of it. If this vehicle increases speed again or gets out of
the way, the same set of sensors send another signal, but this time to the gas
pedal thereby automatically accelerating your car to match the speed that was initially
set on cruise control. The system basically replicates what we (as human
drivers) would do in a similar situation and makes driving less stressful, and
safer. Well, this robot always has its eyes
on the road!

Inventors are getting
creative with robotic automation trying to introduce it in our daily chores so
that we can reap the benefits every single moment. Floor cleaning robots, such as iRobot, vacuum and mop meticulously
covering each area smartly avoiding smashing into walls, furniture, pets and of
course us! Companies like Samsung have even come up with sophisticated versions
of these appliances that can be controlled
with an app on your phone. Earlier this year, Chongqing supermarket in China introduced robotic shopping carts. The cart syncs with a smart phone and
follows the shopper around the market. It not only saves them the hassle of
pushing things around but also helps them locate stuff! This robotic cart even detects
other shoppers and carts en-route and politely finds its way around them.
Walmart is currently evaluating a prototype for a similar robotic cart. The
point is, opportunities for automation are endless with the help of robotics.
And engineers are leaving no stone unturned!

The Road Ahead

It is almost
impossible to ignore robots these days. They are omnipresent in a plethora of
shapes and forms. The truth is, we
co-exist with robots, at times not realizing how important they are. Today,
robotics cannot be seen in isolation. The world of robots, or "our world of robots" so to speak, is
being made more and more exciting by other technologies that make them look good. As Elon Musk (Founder and CEO,
Tesla Inc and SpaceX) once quoted, "When
somebody has a breakthrough innovation, it is rarely one little thing. It's
usually a whole bunch of things that collectively amount to a huge innovation."
As quite a few technology leaders prudently envision, this is one area of innovation that is in its purple patch and it truly
deserves to be there! This is going to stay and grow helping businesses achieve
more in many years to follow.

In this article, I tried to gather my outlook
and observations on this topic and collectively present them. This might not
come across as a totally technical manuscript about implementing robotics, and
that's intentional. The aim here was to jot down experiences that prove how
robots have become an integral part of our lives, and that of a larger spectrum
we deal with, but go unnoticed on many occasions because we fail to comprehend
their importance. If you are equally passionate about this subject and would like
to have a discussion, then send me an email at Manish_Naik@infosys.com and I would be happy to chat. Also,
please share your feedback / questions in the comments section below or via email.